News story about the outcome of a consultation by UK radio audience metrics organisation RAJAR that resulted in disparate views about the future of radio audience measurement, written by Grant Goddard in January 2005 for The Radio Magazine.

1. NEWS: CONSULTATION ON
FUTURE OF UK RADIO
AUDIENCE METRICS PRODUCES
DISPARATE VIEWS
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
January 2005

2. News: Consultation On Future Of UK Radio Audience Metrics Produces Disparate Views Page 1
©2005 Grant Goddard
A six-month consultation by RAJAR to determine the way forward for UK radio
audience measurement has revealed some disparate views amongst the more
than three hundred respondents from the BBC and commercial radio,
advertisers, agencies and system providers who were polled.
The industry is agreed that: RAJAR must continue to provide a single audience
measurement system; data must be credible and robust; RAJAR must monitor
all delivery platforms; the radio map should be revised; and the cost of any
changes in methodology must be affordable to the industry. But concerns were
expressed over the ability of the existing RAJAR system to cope with the multi-
channel future, and over the transition from diaries to a new audiometer
system by 2007.
The industry has divergent views on the definition of radio listening, with
advertisers and agencies keen to replace the existing definition of “five minutes
or more” with a period as short as one or two minutes. The radio industry,
however, feels that such a change “would dilute the traditional value of
engagement which had been attributed to radio.”
It was agreed that the present system whereby stations define their own 'Total
Survey Area' for RAJAR measurement creates a “complex” map, though any
introduction of a homogenous survey area for each metropolitan area would
have to take into account the need of small commercial and community
stations who only serve part of a city.
Advertisers are keen to increase the availability of data from quarterly to a
weekly basis, so as to evaluate the impact of their campaigns more quickly,
whereas the radio industry expresses concern about the costs and the impact
on their business of such a change.
Sally de la Bedoyere, managing director of RAJAR, said: “We are delighted to
report there is wide consensus that a single audience measurement system,
which includes both BBC and commercial radio, is essential for the future of
radio audience research, and that while the introduction of electronic
measurement is seen as very important, the accuracy and robustness of the
data, allied to cost was the key. We now have a far clearer picture of the needs
of the industry and the feedback we have received will help enormously in
framing the specification for the new contract which we will be drawing up in
the next few months.”
The report, entitled 'The Future Requirements of Radio Audience Research',
was undertaken by Mark Cross of mc2
and can be downloaded from the
RAJAR web site.
[First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'RAJAR Consultation', #668, 29 January 2005]
Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of
experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy
roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk